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Screen never dimmed-Android bug?

M

Mewkiss

Member
Got my phone yesterday and it isn't even activated yet while I wait for my old number to port. I've bee adding contacts.

It was fine yesterday but today the screen never dimmed. I reset the time to dim and nothing. I finally called VM who had me take out the battery which solved the problem.

She told me that that was a problem with Androids, that they did freeze, but it shouldn't happen and if it did again I should take my phone back and get a new one.

Can someone advise me on this? Is this a common problem, will getting a new phone make any difference or is this just something to deal with?

Thanks
 
This is literally the first time hearing this problem. I'm not going to debate with someone who fixes issues daily like a VM rep, but it doesn't sound too common
 
Hello _ Welcome to Android Forum. I don't know what that rep told you - but if she did say that - then she failed to also mentioned... that all "touch-screen smartphones" sometimes freezes. The "unknown" does happen sometimes - and chances are we might never figured out what had caused it. If the device isn't giving you any serious problems, I don't see any reason to have it replaced. Who knows... the replacement might be even worse.

Enjoy your time here. All the best for 2012. :)
 
Thanks guys. I don't know who I was talking talking to at VM but her information was correct. And she did tell me this was an Android problem. I was fine until she said if it did it one more time to return it for a replacement.

This happened less the 24 hours after I had the phone and it wasn't even activated. I had been entering my contacts that's it. It was sitting on my coffee table the rest of the time.

I agree another one might have a bigger problem but wouldn't it just be like electronics that on day 31, when it's too late to return it, it starts to go haywire? And I'm a total newbie to the Android world so who knows how long it will take me to learn how to use this.

Guess I'll see how it goes in a week or 2 and then decide or get more opinions. Thanks
 
I had one freeze up on the third day. Had to pull the battery. A year and a half later, it's working fine, hasn't happened since. Another phone, year old, and another, 6 months, hasn't happened at all.

I think what others and I are saying is that this isn't an Android issue, electronics just sometimes glitch. It's not inherent to a flawed design and to be expected in other words.

But if it keeps up, absolutely replace it. Lemons happen far too often with electronics, and Android is no better in that regard.
 
Thanks EarlyMon! Just wanted I needed to hear. I will keep an eye on it, I have I think 3 weeks to decide what to do. Anytime I get something new that I have no clue how to use I freak out.

I want to ask if it is ok to turn it off every night? I don't want to be woken with texts and wrong numbers and it will keep me from being up all night playing with it. Got a small addiction problem going. And it will help preserve the battery.
 
Glad I could help!

I am of the school that letting electronics sleep rather than power cycling them leads to longer life. I work in semiconductor reliability.

Just put it in airplane mode, and let yourself walk away and have a normal life at night, you know you want to. Think of airplane mode as your on/off switch. :) ;)
 
EarlyMon said:
Glad I could help!

I am of the school that letting electronics sleep rather than power cycling them leads to longer life. I work in semiconductor reliability.

Just put it in airplane mode, and let yourself walk away and have a normal life at night, you know you want to. Think of airplane mode as your on/off switch. :) ;)
Click to expand...

I saw airplane mode. So I turn that on and it sleeps? Can you give me a dumbed down explanation?

And then in the morning i press the button and take it off airplane mode? Should I ever turn it completely off once in awhile?

At my age, my life at night is crawling into bed at 8 pm and going to sleep at 10. :):eek:

Really thanks so much. Much better and faster help here than at VM.
 
Airplane mode turns off the radios - nothing gets in or out.

Depending on the model, a quick tap on the power button sends it to sleep after that, and a quick tap to wake it up. And remember to take it off airplane mode.

If things run slow or sluggish after a while or after some updates, go ahead and power cycle it then, or follow power prompt to restart it.

Otherwise, that's pretty much it.
 
I have an LG Optimus Slider. I have no clue how to use it except for the basics. I have to quickly press the power button which lights the screen then I unlock it to proceed. To display the Airplane mode I have to hold the power button down and it gives me 3 options. If there is an easier way I don't know it yet.
 
If you want, you can put it on blank spot on one of your homescreens as an on/off widget. Long press a blank spot, choose widget and see if you have one. If not, you can find one on the Market for free.

Some models let you get to it by sliding down your notification bar.
 
My phone isn't even activated yet. Is taking awhile to port my old number in. Then I have to figure out how to use it. First I need to text, then online.

Haven't figure out home screen, don't know how to download apps or where to get them. Notification screen?

Seriously, I'm clueless so baby steps for me. Thanks for your patience
 
airplane mode.. turns off all radios.. so to the rest of the world, your phone is off.
but you can still use it.. play games. add contacts..etc..
you can even turn on the wifi radio only.. to get on the internet, but emails will come in!

the power button still turns on and off the sleep mode.. as normal.
most phones.. if you hold the power button down (while awake), you will be given a choice to put it into airplane mode.

most phones come with widgets to use the airplane mode and other switches. if not .. market has a lot for free.

if you think the phone is acting a little slow.. once in a while .. as needed.. do a battery pull. this may range from weekly to monthly. whatever.
 
@dan330. Thanks. So if the phone is on airplane mode I won't get texts or phone calls? That is what I'm trying to avoid. I actually don't want to have access to the phone at all because I don't want to be up all night playing games which is why shutting it off is almost preferable to me unless it is bad for my phone.

Until I know how to use the phone I'll hold off on the widgets. I was entering a contact and somehow dialed a number and then had no idea how to disconnect it. That is how much I don't know.

Once it's activated I'll be able to play with it more.
 
turning it off.. is not really a huge issue.. it may put some stress on a few things/connections/resistors.. whatever.

but we are talking small. this may reduce the life of the product from 30yrs to 28yrs. i think in the life of that phone.. there are other things that will kill it before it see past 5 yrs.


so.. if you want to turn your phone all the way off... do it!!!!
 
Mewkiss said:
My phone isn't even activated yet. Is taking awhile to port my old number in. Then I have to figure out how to use it. First I need to text, then online.

Haven't figure out home screen, don't know how to download apps or where to get them. Notification screen?

Seriously, I'm clueless so baby steps for me. Thanks for your patience
Click to expand...
The notification bar is the little bar at the top of the screen that has the time/signal bars/battery, etc. you can slide that down, some phones have some toggle buttons for different functions there (as a shortcut).

Your phone has an app labeled "market". You just tap that when you get your phone activated (or use wifi now), and it will take you to the app market. That is where you download apps from.

Don't worry, you'll be an expert in no time! Enjoy your Android!
 
What about software update. My phone was laggy / freezing so decided to update. Although I did this manually you could visit your local carrier shop, or maybe for your make of phone there might be a PC suite that allows update, maybe even go to your makers website they might be able to push update.
 
Since taking the battery out it has been fine. I'll keep an eye on it. Since it isn't even activated yet, (waiting for VM to port my number) and I have no clue how to use it, I think updating software is out of my scope of knowledge right now. If I have more problems I got you guys but I think that problem was hopefully a glitch and my be easier to just pop the battery out once in a while. Thanks
 
dan330 said:
It sure is taking a long time to port...
Click to expand...

My previous carrier did not tell me the correct account number so that was the problem.

I am activated and can text but the screen froze again and would not dim. I tried to activate the phone, got an error message and that did it.

I removed the battery and its fine now although now I cannot get on the internet although I could before. Is that a phone or VM problem?

Anyway, so do I go swap out phones or deal with what I got? That is the question.
 
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